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Self-Evident Intuitions

People usually accept unsupported theories or untestable information due to the moral

obligations that necessitate them to fulfill society's expectations. Therefore, I agree with

Westermarck's statements that stress better decisions involving the evidence supporting a theory

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before deciding to accept or trust the theory, instead of accepting or proving the theory as

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accurate without any evidence supporting it (Audi, 2008). A theory without evidence in the form

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of facts and data is incomplete. Examining an idea or theory's psychological and historical
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origins helps understand the emotions and allows the individual behind the idea or theory to

create a theory with a supported and valid conclusion. It is not possible to prove a theory to be
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valid or not by an individual attempting to prove the theory based on the same individual's
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personal opinions. The individual cannot establish the definitive facts expected to support the

idea, making the theory have high chances of being wrong. Thus, it is not sufficient for an
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individual to base the process of validating a theory by considering the individual's opinions and

viewpoint on the particular subject as it would provide little evidence to present the theory as
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true convincingly.
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Shweder & Jonathan ascertain that every individual has morals that guide their opinions

and is thus directed differently towards making decisions. Therefore, combining the individual's
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moral opinions with the theory's psychological and historical origins is essential in collecting

supporting evidence and facts to support the theory instead of just basing the theory on a single

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individual's opinions. Therefore, it is important and more convincing to examine the opinions of

individuals based on their morals in the context of psychological and historical origins as

opposed to only considering the truths of self-evident intuitions that are unchangeable.

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Works Cited

Audi Robert. Intuition, inference, and rational disagreement in ethics: Ethical Theory and Moral

Practice 11.5 (2008): 475-492.

Shweder Richard A. and Jonathan Haidt "The future of moral psychology: Truth, intuition, and

the pluralist way." Psychological science 4.6 (1993): 360-365.

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This study source was downloaded by 100000821132232 from CourseHero.com on 09-15-2021 20:38:41 GMT -05:00

https://www.coursehero.com/file/86994180/Self-evident-intuitionsdocx/
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